29. Seraphina
29
SERAPHINA
D ad stepped aside, and the rest of my parents followed his lead. Jericho gently extricated himself from my grip and left me alone.
I exhaled, holding my head high, and the Alphas my dad had just presented as my pack came into view.
The sight ripped a gasp from my chest.
There, under the black and red drapes and surrounded by roses, stood Loki, Blaze, and Hawk.
Looking utterly, cruelly devastating in formal attire.
Loki wore a dark navy suit, and he’d swept the long strands of his white-blond hair back into a neat knot, which showed off the shaved sides of his head and gave a dangerous edge to his otherwise polished look. Blaze had opted for no tie with his black suit and white dress shirt, which teased a peek at his dragon’s fire where it stretched across his chest. Hawk was in dark gray, and the striking contrast between that perfectly pressed, expensive suit and his inked neck and hands broke something in my brain.
I blinked in stunned confusion. What was left of my heart beat rapidly in my chest with audible thumps.
“This is Gabriel Montgomery,” Dad said, motioning to Loki. “And his packmates, Alexander Cruz”—he gestured at Blaze—“and Jasper Dallas.” He nodded at Hawk.
The three of them grinned sheepishly at me. Something like hope, maybe regret, and definitely longing all swirled together on their striking faces.
My knees wobbled as the room suddenly spun around me.
My lip trembled.
Oh no .
A sob escaped my lips.
Loki’s eyes widened in panic. He dove for me.
Blaze and Hawk followed in similar distress.
“No, shh, Lamb, please don’t cry,” Loki said, skidding to a stop on his knees in front of me. He pulled me right down into his lap.
Hawk and Blaze joined us on the floor, crowding at my sides, creating a little cocoon around me. They ran their rough hands all over my skin, as if checking me for injuries.
“Princesa, we’re sorry,” Blaze murmured. “You look so beautiful. Fuck, I’m so sorry.”
“Little Flame, it’s okay,” Hawk whispered into my hair. “It’ll be okay now.”
So many thoughts. So many questions. So many things to say.
But I only managed to utter, through hyperventilating sobs, “I th-thought you left. ”
Loki squeezed me to him. “Never, Lamb.”
“I… I called you. I left messages. I went to your h-house….”
“Fuck,” Blaze said. “We should’ve fought them fucking harder. We thought you might get worried that you hadn’t heard from us, but?—”
“I was going to a-ask you to be my p-pack because my parents and your d-dad were going to l-let me get expelled, and?—”
“Goddamn it,” Loki hissed. “That’s how they got you here. I’m so sorry, Lamb.”
Hawk’s lips landed on the back of my neck. “They kidnapped us, Little Flame. We would’ve never stayed away from you voluntarily. Especially not after your heat.”
“They—what?” I clutched at Loki’s— Gabriel’s —lapel, and I groped for Hawk— Jasper —with my other hand. “Who kidnapped you?”
“Our fucking parents,” Loki growled. “Who, as you may have worked out, own and run Sentinel in the same way yours do Bryce Solutions. They had plenty of resources.”
“But… why?”
“We, uh,” Blaze— Alexander —began. “We might’ve put up a real fight when they said they were moving the choosing gala to less than a week away.”
“They thought we were getting cold feet,” Hawk added. “But we just…. We were so tired of them pressuring you like that. We had a plan. We were getting to know each other outside all this courting bullshit.”
“Granted, no one knew that,” Loki said. “No one except Jericho knew the local consultant we’d hired was you.”
Blaze nosed at his favorite spot behind my ear, murmuring, “So, they barged into our house, kidnapped us, and kept us on lockdown in the hotel our parents rented out for Sentinel headquarters.”
I laugh-sobbed. “And I thought my parents were bad.”
Loki kissed my forehead. “We fought hard, but we lost.” He flexed his fist, and I noticed the bruising along his knuckles.
And I remembered Thomas Montgomery’s black eye.
I let go of Loki’s shirt and reached for Blaze. It was supremely irritating that I only had two arms when there were three of them, even as I knew that somewhere underneath this torrent of emotion, I was probably also really angry at them.
“Wait,” I said, sucking in a gasp. “Did—did you guys know about me that first night? The night we?—”
“No, Lamb,” Loki said forcefully. He brought his forehead to mine, his ice-blue eyes boring into mine with fierce sincerity. “We knew nothing about this contract our parents entered into on our behalf until we left our undercover operation and returned home. They dropped the bomb on us then.”
Blaze had moved his face into the crook of my neck, and his deep chuckle reverberated against my skin. “We told them exactly where they could stick that contract, baby. I imagine it’s exactly how you reacted when you were told.”
“Until,” Hawk said, his eyes shining behind his glasses as he swept my hair behind my ear, “they put your picture up on the screen.”
I hiccupped another laugh. “The beta girl you banged at the MC.”
“The sexy beta assassin we’d been planning to track down when we had a free moment,” Loki said. “We’d just explained to our dads how our next lead was going to bring us to the South Texas OFS. They found that extremely convenient.”
“So, we went with it,” Blaze said. “We planned to see you at that first meet and greet, pull you aside somehow, and beg you to believe us that we had no part in this betrothal. We hoped you’d be open to getting to know us, privately, without an audience, while we worked the Hart lead, but….” He raised a sardonic brow at me.
“But then I tear gassed you,” I wailed, back to crying uncontrollably.
Loki laughed and pressed his lips to my cheek. “You only managed to get Alex and Jasper. And our fathers. I missed the fun because I was running late after finalizing our arrangements with the dean.”
I dropped my face to his shoulder and sniffed into his jacket. “I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re not, but trust me when I say it only made us even more interested in you.”
“Extremely,” Hawk agreed. “So that was when we realized we couldn’t court you as Gabriel, Alex, and Jasper. We had to be Loki, Blaze, and Hawk. You wanted nothing to do with the Montgomery Pack, and we understood why you felt that way.”
Blaze stole my hand from Loki and squeezed. “The dean told us that between our investigation and our attempt to court Seraphina Bryce, you were going to be the bigger challenge.”
“Dean Bennett’s a comedienne,” I grumbled.
“Hey,” Loki said, his big hand cupping my face tenderly as he looked into my eyes. “I’m sorry we misled you, Lamb. We realized very quickly this was the chance of a fucking lifetime, and we wanted you to get to know us as we worked together professionally. We didn’t want to be rich Alphas interviewing a pedigreed omega for a knot-fitting. We wanted you to see that we were interested in you . Your intelligence, your drive, your deadly skills. Your wit, your humor, your care for others. All of it, Seraphina. We’ve seen it, and we want it. Badly. We were only hoping you might come to feel the same way about us, as opposed to bonding as we know you are.”
I melted in his hand. “Well,” I said, sniffing, “great job, because you went and made me fall in love with you. All three of you.”
Loki beamed the most beautiful smile I’d ever beheld. “I love you, too, Sera.”
He kissed me. Hard, sure, and possessive. I moaned against his sinful lips and threw my arms around his neck.
My frost giant loved me. He didn’t leave me. He was here, and he had been the whole time.
I’d kick Gabriel Montgomery in the nuts later. For now, I’d bask in Loki’s love.
He ended the kiss too soon and spun me in his lap. Blaze pulled me into his arms and cradled me, the other two shifting to close around me again, keeping the (ridiculous) illusion of privacy. Their scents mingled in harmony around us—Loki’s boozy vanilla, Blaze’s cracking fire, and Hawk’s clove and sage.
I caressed Blaze’s handsome face. His wavy black hair had been tamed into something suave and artful tonight, and I wanted to run my fingers through it and mess it all up.
“Blaze,” I murmured. “Or do I call you Alexander?”
“You can call me whatever you want, querida ,” he replied. “Did you mean it? You love us, and you want to be ours?”
I nodded. “It’s true. Even though it turns out you’re pretentious courting pack assholes after all.”
“Thank you for not holding it against us,” he replied, beaming down at me. I never stood a chance against that big, beautiful smile. “I love you, too, Seraphina. I’m sorry for the subterfuge, but Gabriel said it all. We became very desperate, very quickly. I’m only glad our parents’ insane meddling didn’t cost us everything.”
I brought my lips to his. Kissing Blaze was like coming home. These lips were already imprinted on my soul. He growled happily, his tongue seeking mine, and I gladly opened for him.
After not nearly long enough, he pulled away, kissing my cheek, my temple, and finally my hair. He passed me to Hawk— Jasper , a hot name, I had to admit—and I found myself shamelessly straddling his thighs where he knelt on the floor.
“Hi,” I said softly, lightly caressing his wings with my fingertip. “Jasper,” I added.
“Little Flame,” he replied, grinning. “Seraphina. My love. My omega .”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him close. “I love you too. Thank you for coming to get me.”
“It was all we could think about since the second my dad flashed your beautiful face on the big screen at headquarters. Hart, the investigation, our client—it all became a very distant second.”
A tear leaked from my eye. What a mess I was after having my heart shattered and then being handed everything I never thought I wanted in the middle of my family’s living room.
I sniffed again. “I still owe all of you an ass-kicking, though.”
Hawk brushed my tear away with his thumb. “We’re looking forward to it, my love.”
Our kiss was slow and gentle, but Hawk had a way of infusing dominance into even the sweetest caress, and by the time he pulled away with one last peck on my lips, he’d left me with no doubt that I belonged to him.
Loki ran a warm hand down the exposed skin of my back. “Shall we, uh… get off the floor and face the gauntlet?”
I groaned, not ready to leave our cocoon. “I guess. I’m up for almost anything if you guys are with me.”
They all rumbled masculine sounds of approval. Loki wrapped a hand around my neck and jerked me to his lips, stealing one last kiss. “We’ll always be with you, Lamb. We’re your Alphas now.”
I had Alphas now .
And I wasn’t horrified. I wasn’t trying to plot my escape. I didn’t want to disappear into the great unknown with a backpack full of suppressants so that I could live a life free from omega bondage.
No, I was elated. Floating. Soaring .
Hawk, in an impressive show of strength, rolled to standing with me still wrapped around his waist. He set me gently on my feet, and I managed not to wobble in my stupid shoes as he threaded his fingers through mine.
Blaze snagged my other hand before Loki could, grinning triumphantly at him.
“You’ll pay for that later,” Loki warned.
“Mmm, that sounds like a sexy threat,” I said to Hawk under my breath.
He chuckled. “It is.”
I sighed, readying myself. I darted a few tentative looks around the room, taking in the unfamiliar faces of the Montgomery, Cruz, and Dallas families, most of whom were trying not to stare at us like animals in a zoo enclosure. Our moment on the floor had clearly come as a shock to everyone.
Almost everyone.
My gaze collided with Jere’s. He was leaning lazily against a nearby wall, alone, watching the proceedings like nothing unusual was happening.
He smirked at me, mere hints of triumph on his face.
“Jere knew!” I said, gasping. “He knew the whole time!”
“He absolutely did,” Hawk agreed. “He would’ve known before any of us.”
“At the motel,” I said, now scowling at Jere. His smirk grew into an actual smile. “The night I shot Stone. He knew exactly who you were! And he didn’t say anything!”
Loki laughed, and I felt every deep, sexy vibration where he pressed his big body into my back. “We were getting along so well. He had to think you’d never talk to us again if you’d known we were the rich boys your parents had promised you to without your permission.”
“Ugh. He was right. I hate it when that happens.”
Blaze hummed in agreement. “We know, trust us. We found it incredibly irritating that our parents went off and procured an omega for us while we were undercover, and they managed to blunder into our dream girl.”
“Wait…,” I said as a thought occurred to me. If Jere had known, that also meant….
With an angry growl, I dragged the boys across the room to where Austin, Seth, Cam, and Dylan stood huddled together, dressed in their finery. They were sipping drinks and wearing the smuggest looks known to humankind.
Austin lit up with glee as I stomped up to him and jammed a finger into his chest. “You asshole!”
“Turnabout’s fair play, little sister.”
I scowled. “That is not even the same thing. I sent you straight to Dylan with, like, eighty percent of the facts. You sat on this very important information for a week!”
Seth chuckled. “Sere, you can’t act like this isn’t mostly your fault. If you weren’t so obstinate, a single look at the dossier Dad had prepared or even a light Google search for Pack Montgomery would’ve told you exactly who you’ve been hanging out with.”
He did have me there. “Shut up, Seth.”
“Yeah, Seth,” Cam said, slipping gracefully in front of me to pull me into a hug. “Leave our Sere-bear alone. It all worked out exactly as it should.”
I sank into the hug and glared at my brothers over Cam’s shoulder like a wounded little puppy. It only made their smiles grow wider.
Loki snatched me from Cam. “That’s enough of that.”
I swatted him. “He’s my brother, too, Loki.”
“Sorry, Lamb. We’ll have to become desensitized to him.”
Dylan watched all of this with a satisfied smile from her spot snuggled up under Seth’s arm. She looked gorgeous in her slinky blue gown, and her bare neck loudly displayed the twin bonding scars from my brothers. “We should also add that Jericho let us know after the lake thing in no uncertain terms that if we blew this, we’d regret it,” she said.
I huffed. “Girl code, Dylan. Jere would never touch a hair on your head, anyway. You’re his favorite.”
Loki cleared his throat. He held out a hand to Austin, and they shook. “I do appreciate you not outing us. We thought for sure it was over as soon as you guys walked into the room.”
I elbowed him.
Austin shrugged. “You’re not off the hook for other stuff ”—he shot me a chastising look that I was certain had to do with my activities the first night I met the guys—“but you have my greatest respect and sincere gratitude for earning my little sister’s love, which none of us thought could be done. Welcome to the family.”
“Thank you,” Loki replied with a genuine smile. “We couldn’t be happier to be here.”
Blaze and Hawk took turns shaking Austin’s hand. Seth was next, then Cameron. Dylan decided to give each of my boys a hug, and they accepted her warmly. She even received a gallant kiss to the hand and a sexy little wink from Hawk, which pushed Austin over the edge. He growled and yanked her away from him like a big dumb ogre.
“He’s lethal, Sera,” she gushed as Austin wrangled her under his arm. “We probably shouldn’t send Jasper and Cam anywhere together.”
“Mmm, true,” I mused. “They’d be unstoppable.”
“Now, Blossom,” Cam said, his deep-blue gaze drinking in my boys like the fine wine they were, “all of Sere-bear’s men are top-tier specimens. I’m so proud of her.”
Seth and Austin grumbled unintelligibly. Dylan had to pat them sweetly and assure them they were very handsome Alphas, too, the big babies.
Austin sighed, then he nodded toward the back of the room, where I was acutely aware that our parents waited. “You better go talk to them. I think Dad may need a defibrillator.”
I finally dared a glance in their direction. Dad was sitting at the end of one of the long tables, looking as though he’d been hit by a car and was unsure where he was. Mom sat next to him, rubbing his back, her eyes puffy. Pop stood behind Mom, equally shell-shocked, his big hand on her shoulder. Jonathan and Isabella sat next to Dad, both of them just in a daze.
At least I wasn’t the only one who’d been blindsided here tonight.
The guys coalesced around me again.
“We’ve got you, Lamb,” Loki said, squeezing the back of my neck.
“Always,” Hawk added.
Blaze lifted my hand to kiss the inside of my wrist. “Together, querida.”
And now the gauntlet began.